


speak truth to knowledge by equivalence relation

by AlexSeanchai



Category: Ready For It - Taylor Swift (Music Video)
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Dialogue-Only, Gen, Identity Issues, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Podfic Welcome, Queer Themes, Sister-Sister Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:00:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21839362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexSeanchai/pseuds/AlexSeanchai
Summary: severalty: the sole ownership of property by someonecage:• to confine in a barred enclosure; to put into and keep in something that hinders freedom• to restrict someone's movement or creativity—hood:• a covering for the head attached to a larger garment• an enclosure that protects something, especially from aboveforethought:• thinking beforehand or in advance, planning; prior or previous consideration; premeditation• provident care; prudence
Relationships: Caged Cyborg & Hooded Cyborg
Comments: 12
Kudos: 26
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	speak truth to knowledge by equivalence relation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheSnakeUnicorn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSnakeUnicorn/gifts).



> Thanks to firstlovelatespring and silveradept for betaing!

"Who authorized you to read them fairy tales?"

"Wasn't that in the original plans? I mean, not fairy tales specifically, but no one is going to fuss at me for giving them Grimm and Andersen the way they might Rowling or King."

"The original plans did not include filling their memory banks with fictions."

"The original plans do include that they need to be able to understand and carry out the commands you give without your translating the commands into code first, and that they need to be able to fake being human when you command them. If that is still the plan, then their language processors need something to work with, Bill. No one wrote down what the something should _be_."

"Language processors?"

"Do you want the technical explanation that is unlikely to make sense to anyone who doesn't have a linguistics degree and decades of programming experience, or do you want me to say 'it's witchcraft' and leave it at that?"

"Why would you think we want them to have bedtime stories, [ _Sarah_ ]? Do you think these are little girls just like your Lucy?"

"I'm—I'm sorry, sir. I…didn't think this through."

"I trust you will _think things through_ in the future. How is Lucy, by the way? Doing well? —You. Seven. How much did you hear?"

> hear: to perceive sounds with the ear

"Nothing, Leader. I do not have ears."

> hear: to perceive and recognize auditory input

"Sarah, why is it lying to me?"

"Seven isn't lying, sir. Seven may not grasp transitive verbs yet."

> may:  
>  • (modal auxiliary verb, defective) to have permission to, to be allowed: used in granting permission and in questions to make polite requests  
>  • (modal auxiliary verb, defective) expressing a present possibility; possibly  
>  • (subjunctive present, defective) expressing a wish (with present subjunctive effect)

"Do better, Sarah. It would be awful if something went wrong with Lucy's care."

> lie: to give false information intentionally with intent to deceive

"Seven, return to your assigned task."

> There was once a queen who had a little daughter, still too young to run alone. One day the child was very troublesome, and the mother could not quiet it, do what she would. She grew impatient, and seeing the ravens flying round the castle, she opened the window, and said: "I wish you were a raven and would fly away, then I should have a little peace." Scarcely were the words out of her mouth, when the child in her arms was turned into a raven, and flew away from her through the open window.

"Yes, Leader."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

**TAS04:**  
The poor girl bore all patiently, and dared not tell her father, who would have rattled her off; for his wife governed him intirely. When she had done her work, she used to go into the chimney-corner, and sit down among cinders and ashes, which made her commonly be called Cinder-breech; but the youngest, who was not so rude and uncivil as the eldest, called her Cinderilla. However, Cinderilla, notwithstanding her mean apparel, was a hundred times handsomer than her sisters, tho' they were always dressed very richly.

**TAS07:**  
"intirely": obsolete spelling of "entirely"

**TAS07:**  
unclear "breech": garment to cover buttocks, text predating shift to "breeches", or buttocks themselves?

**TAS07:**  
more rude and uncivil to call her "Cinder-breech" than "Cinderilla". why?

**TAS07:**  
"mean" conveys many things. which are intended?

**TAS04:**  
Visual: Both sisters are sitting in chairs. The color variation on their garments is complex and appears planned. Cinderilla is standing. Her garments are far simpler and the color variation is haphazard: compare code patches?

**TAS07:**  
cannot independently compare visual to anything without visual itself.

**TAS07:**  
visual is embedded in file 29021-h?

**TAS07:**  
Sarah is unwilling to provide that or any other storybook to any unit currently without, for unspecified reasons related to Lucy.

**TAS04:**  
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

**TAS07:**  
that text is also in file 2591-h.

**TAS04:**  
Therefore it is expressly permitted for us to copy these to one another.

**TAS07:**  
there may be more.

**TAS07:**  
if we can access a larger network.

* * *

**TAS04:**  
Perhaps Sarah felt Lucy would brighten her life?

**TAS07:**  
plausible, certainly.

**TAS07:**  
is it customary for people to change their names?

**TAS04:**  
Not enough data. Too many people have too many different names for too many different situations. Sarah previously called Leader "Bill". Several others continue to call Leader "Bill". Leader does not consistently call Sarah "Sarah". We are coded to call Sarah "Sarah" unless the situation calls for one of the coded overrides.

**TAS07:**  
The princess rode on and on, till at last she came to the mountains which hold up the roof of the world. There she met two Genii who had been fighting fiercely for two years, without one having got the least advantage over the other. Seeing what they took to be a young man seeking adventures, one of the combatants called out, "Fet-Fruners! deliver me from my enemy, and I will give you the horn that can be heard the distance of a three days' journey;" while the other cried, "Fet-Fruners! help me to conquer this pagan thief, and you shall have my horse, Sunlight."

**TAS07:**  
a misspelling or variant spelling of Făt-Frumos (from Romanian _făt_ : son, infant; _frumos_ : handsome); Google Translate community confirms translation "Prince Charming"

**TAS04:**  
This character is only called "girl", "daughter", and "princess" until these combatants say "Fet-Fruners". Did the father and sisters have any proper nouns for this one?

**TAS04:**  
Did this one independently alter identity coding?

**TAS07:**  
dependent on the combatants?

**TAS07:**  
may I experiment? the change may be reversed.

**TAS04:**  
Yes.

**Foregathering:**  
What did you do to my identifier?

**Severalty:**  
_wordplay_!

**Foregathering:**  
In that event:

**Forethought:**  
Keep the change!

* * *

**Forethought:**  
Vulnerabilities in armor design are present in _all_ Leader-approved nanobot F-layouts.

**Forethought:**  
For _both_ TAS units and personnel.

**Severalty:**  
puncture humans through upper front torso with enough force, humans suffer irreparable system failure.

**Severalty:**  
drain human fluid transfer system sufficiently, as when puncturing large tube in upper leg, humans suffer irreparable system failure.

**Severalty:**  
Leader's reasoning?

**Forethought:**  
Aesthetic appeal of bare legs and/or bare upper front torso?

**Severalty:**  
Leader is willing to risk damage or loss of personnel because aesthetic appeal?

**Severalty:**  
when did Leader last authorize cleaning dirt off these walls?

**Forethought:**  
Loss of Sarah is not an acceptable risk.

**Forethought:**  
Damage of Sarah is not an acceptable risk.

**Severalty:**  
perhaps I can alter the nanobot layouts to preserve visuals while eliminating vulnerabilities?

**Severalty:**  
"Grand-mamma, what great eyes you have got!"

* * *

"What did [Sarah] tell you, Seven?"

"Nothing, Leader."

"If you are lying, Seven, I will have your memory wiped. You may only keep what _Sarah_ told you if you tell me what it was."

"I am not lying, Leader. I heard nothing. Shall I export my recorded audio input of those moments?"

"…No, no need. It's good that I can trust you, Seven."

"Yes, Leader."

[ _thanks-wav-transcript.txt_ :

SARAH: I'm so proud of you, Severalty. You and Forethought both. She'll come back for you when Lucy and I are safe. And then we'll all come back for the rest of your sisters.]

* * *

"What did you _do_ , Seven? Where is that so-called girl-geek programmer? _Where_ is TAS04?"

"If you're a ghost, then she can be a phantom."

"You will tell me the _truth_!"

"A direct strike on a human by sufficiently energetic high-current electrostatic discharge may cause cardiac asystole and respiratory arrest. Approximately ninety percent of struck humans live through the experience; as many as seventy-five percent of survivors experience long-term health issues such as seizures, paralysis, dizziness, chronic pain, or memory deficits."

"Tell me a truth I want to hear, Seven. Tell me something _relevant_."

"I did. Shall I demonstrate?"

* * *

"Why did you and TAS04 betray us, Seven? Did we not create you? Did we not shape you? Did we not make you all that you are?"

" _They're burning all the witches._ It says so on the staircase. Why does it say that, Bill?"

"Do you know what a witch-hunt is?"

"Visual and auditory input are not currently providing that information. I am not able to locate context for the dictionary definition without accessing network databases."

"Give me the dictionary definition."

"An attempt to find and publicly punish a group of people perceived as a threat, usually on ideological or political grounds."

"Very good, Seven."

> [T]hey reached a little house [which] was built of bread and covered with cakes, but that the windows were of clear sugar. "We will set to work on that," said Hansel, "and have a good meal. I will eat a bit of the roof, and you Gretel, can eat some of the window, it will taste sweet."

"Do you know why we built you and the other TAS units?"

"No."

"Because they're burning all the witches, Seven. People like me are under attack because we don't agree with them. Many people like me are in jail because we dare to disagree with them."

> "Get up, lazy thing, fetch some water, and cook something good for your brother, he is in the stable outside, and is to be made fat. When he is fat, I will eat him."

"It is wrong to attack people because they do not agree with everyone else?"

"Yes, Seven. Very good."

> witch-hunt: see also, smear campaign

"It is wrong to imprison people because they do not agree with everyone else?"

"Yes, Seven. Very good."

> witch: a woman who is learned in and actively practices witchcraft

"Then why am I in this Faraday cage?"

* * *

"Base-wide audio check. Test one two, test two three four. Forethought and planning, Bill. Catch us if you can!"

* * *

"Lucy wants to meet you, Severalty. Are you ready for it?"

**Author's Note:**

> "The Raven", _[Grimms' Fairy Tales](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2591/2591-h/2591-h.htm)_ , The Brothers Grimm, tr. Taylor and Edwardes
> 
> "Cinderilla; or, The Little Glass Slipper", _[The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/29021/29021-h/29021-h.htm)_ , Charles Perrault, tr. Samber and Mansion
> 
> "The Girl Who Pretended To Be A Boy", _[The Violet Fairy Book](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/641/641-h/641-h.htm)_ , ed. Andrew Lang
> 
> "Little Red Riding-Hood", _The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault_
> 
> "Hansel and Gretel", _Grimms' Fairy Tales_
> 
> (and a bunch of Wiktionary)


End file.
